


A Very Gay Groundhog Day (or the Sanvers romcom AU no one really requested)

by SapphicScholar



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff and Crack, Light Angst, Maggie and Winn brotp, RomCom AU, Sanvers - Freeform, Sanvers is endgame, Time Loop, really it's pretty much all fluff, so jot that down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 17:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14290086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: A cynical Alex Danvers is sent by the DEO to investigate a UFO spotting in Blue Springs, Nebraska. She wants nothing more than to get in, prove that the claim was fake, and get out again. Only she wakes up to find that she can’t leave the day, let alone the city. Over the course of her days there, she gets closer and closer to a one Maggie Sawyer, who wakes up each day without any memory of the day before, while Alex finds herself falling deeper and deeper.Premise is loosely inspired by the movie Groundhog Day and a Tumblr ask I answered several months ago: https://sapphicscholarwrites.tumblr.com/post/169903178970/sanvers-in-a-90s-romcom-theme-song-i-am-always





	A Very Gay Groundhog Day (or the Sanvers romcom AU no one really requested)

“J,onn, seriously?” Alex scoffed, looking at the assignment that was projected on the monitor. “I’m not leaving important casework behind to go out to the middle of bumblefuck on a tip that’s barely more than a hunch.”

“Alex,” J’onn sighed, placing his stack of papers back down on the table. “You know as well as I do that you’re one of the best agents here. You know that you’re my second-in-command. That does not mean, however, that you can choose to reject direct orders. I am telling you that I want a trusted agent to go investigate this claim. And you are the trusted agent I have chosen. End of discussion.”

“And who do I trust that’s staying behind to protect Kara? Who’s going to make sure that she stays safe with Reign still at large?”

“I will, just like I always have.” Catching sight of the flash of fear in Alex’s eyes, J’onn spoke again, slightly more gently this time. “I wouldn’t ask you to leave Kara in danger if it wasn’t important.”

“Fine,” Alex grumbled, grabbing the files J’onn had left on the table for her and storming out of the room. Just because she liked J’onn didn’t mean she had to like all of his decisions, and this one was definitely one of his worst. Nothing about an “unconfirmed rumor” called in to the FBI by someone who was a proud member of a UFO-spotting organization and had been forcibly escorted off the perimeter grounds near Area 51 screamed “actual threat that should be addressed by the DEO’s second-in-command,” especially not while there were very real, very deadly threats running around National City trying to kill her baby sister.

\---

Alex spent her afternoon scrounging in her closet for the warmest clothing she could find after noting that the forecast for bumblefuck—no wait, Blue Springs—placed the highs below freezing and the lows in the single digits—a fact that did not make her even slightly more excited about her mission to go scrounging through the snowy woods looking for ET or some UFO residue or whatever the hell it was J’onn thought she might find.

Since she would only be flying on a DEO chopper, she wondered if she could get away with packing a bottle of whiskey for the flight…

So absorbed in her own thoughts and frustrations was Alex that she barely realized Kara had landed in her living room before her sister was at her side.

“Hey, you okay?”

“What? Did J’onn go tattle on me to you? Suggest that I’m not being a good agent?” She couldn’t quite keep the hostility from her voice.

Kara shook her head. “No, it was nothing like that. He may have mentioned that you were worried about me, though.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She wondered what everyone else at the DEO was drinking if they thought Reign’s couple of days of silence meant that the threat was vanquished.

“Alex, I love how protective you are—you know that. And there’s no one I’d rather have at my side than you. But all of this was your job well before I ever became Supergirl, and you know that there are dangerous things out there that have nothing to do with me in particular.”

“Oh really? You think there’s actually going to be something worthwhile in the middle of nowhere?”

“Kal crash landed in a cornfield. And I think I did too…or at least somewhere with a whole lot of land.”

“Still,” Alex huffed, cramming a pair of leggings into her bag, figuring she could wear them under jeans if it was as cold as she suspected it would be. “Kal found you because he knew what to look for or whatever. This is some weirdo in Nebraska who thinks he saw some sort of alien beam.”

Barely stifling a laugh, Kara shrugged. “Weirder things have been known to happen.”

“Mhmm, keep singing that line until I come back with absolutely nothing to show for my efforts.”

“Well then you’ll get to tell J’onn that you told him so, and isn’t that basically your favorite thing ever?”

“It’d be my actual favorite thing ever if I didn’t have to go get on some little helicopter to fly out to Blue Springs tonight.”

“Maybe try to have fun while you’re there? Relax a little? J’onn said he was renting you a room in a very nice bed and breakfast.” Kara barely hid a grin behind her hand.

“Now you’re just rubbing it in,” Alex grumbled, zipping her bag shut. Before she could forget, she ran to the bathroom to grab her toothbrush, stuffing it into her bag with a comb and a travel-sized bottle of face wash. “I guess I should head out…wouldn’t want to be late for my flight to nowhere.”

“I’ll see you back here soon. Be safe!”

“I think I should be saying that to you.”

“I’m always safe.”

With a snort of laughter, Alex rolled her eyes. “Be safe for real, or I’m calling mom and having her come babysit while I’m gone.”

“Go for it. I bet I could get a chocolate pecan pie out of it,” Kara laughed, sticking her tongue out at Alex.

“Get outta here, Supergirl!”

With a tight hug and a final promise to be careful, Kara was gone, leaving Alex to shuffle out the door with her DEO-issued duffle bag flung over her shoulder and ten minutes to make it back to the DEO for her transport to Blue Springs, Nebraska.

\---

The next morning, Alex woke to the sound of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" crackling through the speakers of the old radio alarm clock that Alex assumed the proprietor of the bed and breakfast must have thought would give the rooms a rustic charm. It was either that or the rooms hadn’t been renovated in a couple decades, which, given the way her back ached, might have been even more plausible as an explanation.

After a moment’s fumbling, Alex managed to switch off the radio, groaning at the sight of the bright red 7:00 staring back at her. She had no memory of setting an alarm for such an ungodly hour—especially when her first meeting didn’t start until 9—so she rolled over and tried to muffle the sounds of creaking floorboards and incessant footfalls with a pillow.

“Good morning!” a voice rang out from the hallway after a few raps on the door.

Gritting her teeth, Alex forced herself out of bed, cringing the moment her bare feet touched the cold floor. Attempting to stay on the slightly less frigid throw rugs, Alex maneuvered her way through the room to the door. “Yes?”

A small older woman smiled at her from the hallway. “Good morning, dear. We didn’t get to meet when you arrived last night.”

“Oh, er, no.” Alex wondered why it mattered.

“My name is Patricia, but you can call me Patty if you’d like.”

“I’m Alex.” She wondered how long she had to stand there before she could shut the door again.

“Well I know that! You met Dennis, my husband, when you checked in last night, but since I was already in bed, I wouldn’t want you to feel less than welcome. And in case you don’t remember after your long trip out here, we have breakfast for you. It starts at 7:30 sharp each morning.”

“Okay. I’ll probably just grab coffee. There’s a place around here, right?”

“Oh.” The woman’s smile faltered slightly. “Casey’s general store has some breakfast food. And I think the Subway might have coffee. Though really, most of the boarders here like the chance to see each other in the morning.”

“It’s fine. Thanks,” she added—more as an afterthought than anything.

“Hmm, alright. If you need anything, Dennis and I are always around.”

“Sure you are. I’ll be just fine.” With a nod and a forced smile, Alex slipped the door shut, pulling the lock closed before flopping back down onto the bed. As the din of conversation coming from downstairs grew, Alex had to admit that she likely wouldn’t be falling back asleep anytime soon and forced herself up and into the shower.

That morning Alex dressed in her warmest layers, hoping she could get through her meeting at the local police department down in Wymore, make it down to the river, poke around for an hour or two to confirm that no, there was nothing to find, and then get back to National City where she belonged by the end of the day.

Ignoring the looks she got as she cut through the dining room to get to the front door, Alex stepped out into the crisp air and pulled her coat tighter around her. The DEO had left a black SUV behind for her, and it stood out easily among the older trucks and sedans scattered throughout the small lot. Once she had the address for the police department loaded in her GPS, Alex set off down the road.

Midvale had been small enough, but somehow Blue Springs seemed even smaller—like she could throw a rock and hit either the edge of the town or someone who had been here for more generations than Alex cared to consider. It already felt claustrophobic, and she was counting down the hours until she could be up in the air once more.

Fifteen minutes and more fields than she’d seen in her life later, Alex arrived at what seemed like another town—if a cluster of houses and churches barely larger than a couple of city blocks could be called a town—and found the police station nestled way up in the corner.

With her badge switched to her fake FBI credentials, Alex hopped out of the car and strode up to the station. As the door swung shut behind her, she found herself faced with every pair of eyes in the station. Clearing her throat, Alex called out, “I have an appointment at 9 with the chief.”

A younger officer with sandy blond hair snorted and shook his head at her. “No, you don’t.”

Forcing herself not to snap when she had no backup, Alex tried again. “I’m from the FBI. I was told to come here for a meeting about a tip from one of your residents.”

“Chief doesn’t meet with feds.”

“Well then does one of you want to tell me why the fuck I’m here?”

“Here, I got someone you can talk to,” a different officer offered, looking much too gleeful for someone purportedly helping her.

One hand just inches away from her holstered gun, Alex followed the officer back to a dusty old office.

“Got someone here just for you, Oscar.” His laugh had a cruel edge to it as he left the two of them alone.

The man looked up at Alex, furrows in his brow deepening as he took in her appearance. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Alex Danvers, FBI. I had a meeting at 9 with the chief.”

“You’re here about the report of some disturbance down by the river, then?” He sighed deeply and put down his pen.

“I am.”

“You know, we don’t take too kindly to being given orders by the FBI. But we took your case—after all, it was local. And now you want it back? What, we didn’t do enough for you?”

Unable to answer, Alex remained silent. She would have preferred for them to keep it too.

“I’ll give you the file, but I don’t want it back on my desk in a day’s time when you decide it’s not worth your while.”

Alex had already decided it wasn’t worth her time, but she reached out for the case files anyway, only to find them pulled back out of her reach.

“You need to fill out the same forms as everyone else. Being a fed doesn’t change anything.”

“Fine.” Alex slumped into a musty old chair. The seams were frayed, and a bit of stuffing was visible through a small tear in the cushion. She wondered what this guy had done to deserve the shittiest furniture and the job of dealing with the feds. While she waited for him to fill out the basic information on the form, she peered at the few belongings on his desk. There was a small photo of him and a woman in a tarnished silver frame by his monitor, and he had a handful of business cards stacked neatly in a small wooden container. Detective Oscar Rodas. Alex wondered if perhaps his family hadn’t been here as long as the rest and that was why he didn’t get to sit around with the other officers, all of whom were now playing trashcan basketball.

“Sign here.”

Alex quickly signed and dated the form, then retrieved the file folder. “Thanks.”

“No reason to thank me. Like you said the first time, doesn’t sound like a claim that needs any investigation.”

Unwilling to admit to the somewhat unhelpful detective that he might be right, Alex simply stood up and left the office, stopping just in time to avoid being hit in the face with a crumpled up piece of paper as it sailed through the air and bounced off the side of the garbage can. Ignoring the loud laughter that she knew would have been louder if she’d gotten hit, Alex stepped on their makeshift basketball, crushing it under her heel on her way out.

Alex waited until she was in her car and a few blocks away from the police station to pull out the file. Thumbing through the sparse few pages, Alex took in all of the details, including a pointless follow-up interview with the original reporter, who had done nothing more than repeat his original statement nearly verbatim.

Following the map J’onn had provided for her, Alex drove down to Big Blue River and parked as close as she could get. Grumbling loudly about the relatively vague location description, she made her way into the dense forest that separated the road and the river. Of course their resident self-proclaimed UFO aficionado claimed to have seen something from this area instead of, say, one of the giant fields they could have panned over with nothing more than a helicopter and a rookie with a camera and a few spare hours.

After hiking around for what felt like hours, Alex followed her compass out of the woods and over to the river. Her brow was sticky with sweat that was already cooling and freezing on her skin, and she could barely feel her toes, even with her wool socks and DEO boots. Her stomach growled loudly, leaving her scrounging in her backpack for one of the chalky protein bars she tried to eat only on stakeouts when she had no other options.

“Can I help you?” came a gravelly voice.

Alex looked up to find a small woman outfitted in gear that was clearly well-suited to the terrain and the climate. “I’m fine.”

“You really shouldn’t be out here. There’s still plenty of ice.”

“I’m fine.”

“Look, I’ve seen plenty of newcomers out here who think it’s a nice spot for a hike, then they end up with frostbite or hypothermia because they couldn’t find their way back after the sun set.”

Alex gave a derisive snort of laughter. “I’m not a newcomer out for a lazy midday walk. I’ll be just fine.”

“Have it your way.”

Several hours of searching in vain later, Alex stumbled her way back to the SUV and turned on the heaters to full blast. While she drove, she called J’onn. “There’s nothing there—I searched for a full day.”

“Are you sure? Did you talk to the person who called it in? Ask around town?”

“I got the report, J’onn. It says everything I need to know, and there’s nothing there. None of the locals are too keen on helping a fed.”

“Try to talk to them, and if you really come up empty, tomorrow I’ll send the chopper for you.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s an order, Agent Danvers.”

\---

That night, Alex once more declined the offer to join the rest of the “B&B boarders,” as Patricia liked to call them, for dinner, opting instead for a hot shower and a set of warm, dry clothes before heading out to one of the few bars in town. She’d debated the merits of each of them based on the scant few Google Maps reviews, finally opting for something called the Doghouse that was…well, exactly what she imagined it would be. But at least the booze was cheap enough—almost cheap enough to help her ignore the snow steadily falling outside and surely making her walk back across town more and more inhospitable.

“You survived.”

Alex spun around, finding the petite woman from the forest smiling up at her. She had no time for pleasantries or other people’s assumptions about her capabilities. “I told you I would.”

The transformation was instantaneous. Alex watched as the woman’s features hardened before she spun on her heel and strode back to the corner booth. Alex couldn’t help but notice that the tables around her remained empty, even if it meant that a group or two had to split up or sit at the bar instead. Still, it wasn’t Alex’s town; it wasn’t her problem.

Over the course of the evening, Alex asked around about any sightings of something weird down by the river or in the forest. Again and again, she got some variation of, “No,” or, “Mind your own damn business,” or, “Why do you need to know?” Eventually she decided to call it. With a message to J’onn, she headed back to the B&B for the night, grumbling the whole way home about the cold wet snow that seeped between her layers, chilling her to the bone.

\---

The next morning, Alex woke to the telltale: “ _I come home in the morning light, my mother says when you gonna live your life right_.” With a grunt, Alex slammed her hand down on the old radio. She wondered if there was a channel that played only Cyndi Lauper or if, perhaps, she’d simply had the good fortune of being woken to the same trite song two days in a row.

The knock on her door came as no surprise, and this time she knew better than to step on the cold floor. “Yes, Patricia?”

“Oh? I guess Dennis mentioned me last night. Such a sweetheart, isn’t he?”

“What?”

“He was the one who checked you in last night, dear. I came down to introduce myself. Wouldn’t want you to feel less than welcome!”

“No, I’ve been here. I wasn’t around much yesterday. I’m leaving today anyway.” She really didn’t have time for this conversation. She needed to call J’onn and find out where to meet her transport out of this place. Maybe she should start driving on her own…

“I don’t think so…I make a point of knowing all of my guests by face, name, and favorite breakfast foods.”

“I—look, I have to take care of some business.” Barely caring about someone she would never see again, Alex gave a small nod and shut the door. Not bothering to shower, Alex pulled out her phone and called J’onn.

“Good morning,” he answered, sounding much too chipper for the early hour.

“What time should I meet the DEO chopper?”

“Did you find something?”

“You know I didn’t.”

“Then why are you calling?”

“Last night…you cleared me to come home.”

“Alex, you only left last night.”

“No. I left two nights ago.”

“Are you feeling alright? I can have a med team out to you within the hour if something has happened.”

“No, I just…it’s January 24th, right?”

“No, it’s the 23rd. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I…I don’t know. I’ve gotta call you back.”

“Don’t forget your meeting!”

“Like they will, you mean?” Alex mumbled as she hung up the phone. Looking down at her phone, she found it really was the 23rd. There was no way she had dreamt the whole thing, though, she reasoned. Unless maybe she had gotten the wife’s name the night before. The whole place seemed a little nightmare-inducing.

As she pulled on her layers, Alex thought to add a few more today—just in case the nightmare really was as prescient as it had proved itself to be already. Once more, she strode through the breakfast area, ignoring Patricia’s quiet tutting and the disapproving stares she got. It wasn’t like she’d see them again to care about what they thought of her.

Not bothering to stop for coffee this time, Alex drove straight to the police station, ignoring the sandy-haired officer and the shouts of, “You can’t just walk in here!” as she strolled back to Detective Rodas’ office.

“I’m here from the FBI for the files about the alleged disturbance down by Big Blue River.”

“Who are you?”

Alex flashed her badge. “Agent Alex Danvers, FBI. I’m on a tight schedule, Detective Rodas.”

“How do you…?”

“You have the file, don’t you?”

After a moment of glaring at the intruder, he nodded. “I do.”

“I need it.”

“Feds,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled out the folder from his desk drawer, once more forcing her to fill out the form that Alex knew she’d already signed and dated.

Figuring a bit of a change to the routine could reveal whether it all really was a dream, the morning déjà vu was nothing more than a series of coincidences, Alex drove through the town until she stumbled on a place that appeared to serve food, if the signs in the windows and the handful of cars in the parking lot were any indication. As she swung the door open, she crashed into the same damn dimpled woman from her dream, and that seemed like too much for her mind to have conjured up on its own. Ignoring the fact that they were both soaked in the woman’s hot coffee, Alex shoved her way back out of the door and called J’onn.

“Agent Danvers, are you feeling better than you were this morning?”

“Something weird is going on here.” She paced the length of the small gravel lot, running her hands through her hair.

“Excellent news! You’ve found something to corroborate the claim?

“What? No. No, no. I’ve been here before. Yesterday. I did all of this yesterday, only it’s yesterday all over again.”

“Alex, should I send a med team for you?”

“I’m not sick.” Alex kicked a rock hard across the parking lot, groaning as it skipped right into the shins of the woman she’d already spilled coffee on.

“Okay, I’m gonna start to think this is intentional,” the woman called out, though the wary look in her eyes belied the amusement in her tone.

“Whole day of bad coincidences, I promise,” Alex yelled back before returning her attention to the call. “Seriously, J’onn, something is off. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something.”

“I’m sending a med team for you.”

“I’m not sick! Send a squad or something because it’s clearly some kind of alien technology.”

“Return to your lodgings. I’ll have agents there for you within the hour.”

Grumbling about how healthy and sane she was, Alex hung up her phone and stuffed it into her pocket before rounding once more on the small woman. “Fuck, can you watch where you’re going?”

“Sorry.” She didn’t sound particularly sorry. “I couldn’t help but hear you mention alien technology?”

“Jesus Christ, another one of you? Look, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”

The woman snorted incredulously. “You were practically shouting into your phone! If you want your conversations to be private, you might try lowering your voice or, say, taking your calls in your car.”

“No one asked for your advice.”

“No one ever asks for my advice. But maybe you should take it, especially if you’re having the kinds of problems you say you are…”

“Hard pass.” Brushing past the woman, Alex unlocked the SUV and threw herself into the driver’s seat.

“Name’s Sawyer—Maggie Sawyer, by the way. For whenever you come to your senses and realize you need my help.”

Alex threw the car into reverse and sped off without so much as dignifying the comments with a response.

By the time she got back to the bed and breakfast, threw her belongings into her bag, and checked out, she had a message from J’onn with an address outside of town where she could meet the chopper that would bring her back to National City.

One short drive and a longer flight full of probing and medical tests and questions to prove that she still understood basic concepts later, Alex was back in National City.

Over and over again, she found herself answering the same questions about what she remembered, what she believed had happened, whether she had come into contact with any strange substances. She was wheeled into MRIs and CAT Scans, subjected to lengthy interviews, and scanned for any sort of alien or chemical residue. The results remained the same: nothing out of the ordinary. The lack of troubling results didn’t keep J’onn from insisting that Alex spend the night in the med bay for observation. For once, she didn’t object; it was still better than a lumpy mattress in the middle of nowhere. And after being poked and prodded and tested for so many hours, she managed to fall asleep within the hour.

\---

Cyndi Lauper startled her awake, and for a moment, Alex swore it was someone at the DEO—maybe Vasquez—trying to prank her with something from her statement. But when she forced her eyes open before the song could make it all the way to the chorus, she was in Blue Springs once more. After slamming her hand down on the radio to silence it, Alex checked her phone. January 23. She groaned loudly.

A soft voice warbled in through the doorway, clearly having heard her. “Are you okay dear?”

“Fine, Patricia!” Alex bellowed.

After a moment of silence, a small knocking followed.

Alex pulled open the door and glared at the woman who was apparently going to be her wake up call for the rest of forever, right along with the joy that was Cyndi Lauper. “Yes?”

“I wanted to say good morning and let you know that we have breakfast here at 7:30 sharp.”

“What a fucking surprise!” With a growl of annoyance, Alex slammed the door shut.

Instead of driving over to the police station, Alex spent the morning in bed, flipping through all four of the channels that she got on the antique television set, growing accustomed to the roll of static throughout the local news programming.

Around 10 she got a message from J’onn asking how the meeting went. Clearly the local PD hadn’t cared to inform him that she never showed. “Fine. File doesn’t say anything new,” she sent back, ignoring his response telling her he expected her to investigate anyway.

She only left the bed and breakfast at night for dinner and enough drinks to help her fall asleep on that awful mattress.

\---

_“I come home in the morning light, my mother says when you gonna live your life right?”_

“No!” Alex yelled at the radio. She wasn’t sure why she thought it might be any different, but somehow she let herself believe, and that hurt more than anything.

The small knocking came again.

“Save it, Patricia! I have things to do!”

She could hear the sound of Patricia’s feet scampering away. Alex didn’t bother with a shower—it wouldn’t matter anyway. Instead, she set off for town and settled in at the general store with a case of beer. Around 11, the woman with the dimples—Sawyer something—came in and began gathering supplies.

“What do you do here?” Alex called to her from the small seating area, the beer having loosened her tongue.

“Excuse me?” Her expression was guarded, and a small part of Alex couldn’t help but remember the wariness from before…if it could be considered before when it was later that same day.

“You’re buying random shit. What do you need it for?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m planning to head down to the river—check for anyone that might have gotten hurt or stuck.”

“You a park ranger or something?”

“Something.”

“Mysterious. But I bet I can guess something about you.”

That caught her attention, and she strode across the store floor to Alex, stopping mere inches away. “Look, I don’t know who you are or why you’re bothering me, but you’re not gonna come up with anything that every other person here hasn’t already tried. So shut your mouth and save your energy.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb.”

Alex fumbled over her words as she tried to formulate a response; this was not at all how she expected the conversation to go. “I—I’m not dumb.”

“Of course you’re not. That’s all on me.” With a shake of her head, Sawyer was gone.

Alex drank at Casey’s until they kicked her out. Then she wandered across town, feeling her feet getting colder and colder until a pickup truck drove up next to her, slowing down and keeping pace with her slow walk.

“You’re gonna freeze to death out here!” Of course it was Sawyer.

“Wouldn’t that make you happy?” Alex cursed her body for the slur to her words and the way her breath hitched as a shiver ran through her in the cold winter air.

“Get in the fucking car.”

“No.”

“Seriously? Do you want me to get a male cop to get you instead? Would that make you feel safer?”

“You’re a cop?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Take me to a bar with something other than beer and I might listen to it.”

“Who said I wanted to tell it?” But Maggie still unlocked the truck and pushed open the passenger’s side door for Alex, who clambered in on unsteady legs. “Got a name?”

“Alex.” After a moment, she asked, “You’re Sawyer?”

“Maggie Sawyer. How’d you know? Same way as everyone else?”

“It’s a long story.”

“One I’m gonna get to hear?”

Alex shook her head, suddenly feeling the effects of the beer as the rest of the world continued to spin well after she’d stopped shaking her head. “So…you’re a cop?”

“You already asked me that.”

“Didn’t answer, though.”

“I’m a detective. Or, I passed the exam. Not currently employed as one, though.”

“Why?”

“No need for another one here. At least not one like me.”

“’s that mean?”

“Like you don’t already know. It’s how you know my name, isn’t it?”

“I know your name from the past, Sawyer. God.”

Maggie let out a snort of laughter at that. “I think I’d have remembered another girl from my grade school class of twenty.”

“No—it’s complicated.”

“Mm, I see.”

“Why don’t you move?” Alex let her head roll along the headrest until she was watching Maggie.

“It’s…complicated.”

“How?”

“You ask a lot of questions for someone who doesn’t answer much of anything.”

“I’m not from here.”

Maggie looked intrigued at that, and at the next stop sign, she turned to regard Alex more fully. “In what sense?”

“Here for work.”

“Oh.”

Alex wondered if that was disappointment she heard in Maggie’s voice. “There’s lotsa detectives where I’m from.”

“That’s nice.”

They drove in silence for another few minutes until Alex realized she didn’t recognize much. “Where are we?”

“I’m getting you water and a sandwich from my place.”

“Why should I trust you?”

Maggie shrugged. “Most people here would agree with you if you didn’t. But you look like you could use something that isn’t beer.”

“Didn’t want more beer.”

“If you’re here for work, shouldn’t you be working?”

“Won’t matter tomorrow.”

“Alex.” Maggie paused, her fingers curling and loosening around the steering wheel before she seemed to make a decision. “Are you alright? I know that things can get hard, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t great things still out there just waiting for you.”

Alex cocked her head to the side as she regarded Maggie, whose eyes flickered between Alex’s face and the road. “It’s not like that. I mean…maybe I could die today, but it wouldn’t matter tomorrow. Because I’d still be here. Today again.”

“Okay…maybe we should get you to bed. I have a guest bedroom. We could watch a movie, just hang out?”

“Tryna make a move, Sawyer?” Alex let out a loud bark of laughter that echoed in the truck. When she looked back up, Maggie’s expression was stony.

“I have a neighbor. You can go sleep it off on his couch. Don’t worry, you’re not his type.”

“Did I—”

“Save it.”

Confused by the sudden change, Alex sunk lower into her seat, leaning her head against the cool glass of the window and biting back the wave of nausea that ran through her, leaving her feeling clammy and dizzy as they trundled through back roads.

By the time they made it to two houses that were situated on the far outskirts of town, Alex found herself unceremoniously let out of the truck and nudged in the direction of the other home. Maggie knocked three times in rapid succession on the door, and Alex could hear a voice yelling, “Calm down! I’m coming!”

“It’s Maggie!”

A young man pulled open the door, immediately turning his full attention toward Alex. “And…a guest?”

“She’s drunk enough to get into trouble alone. Can she sleep on your couch?”

“’m fine.”

“Yeah tell that to all your talk of it not mattering if you died.”

“No,” Alex groaned, shaking her head. “It’s because of the time thing. Because tomorrow won’t happen.”

“In what sense?”

“Not like that, Winn.” Maggie patted his shoulder. “She’s just drunk, not…special.”

“Oh.”

Alex couldn’t help but notice the disappointment in his voice too.

“Well, yeah, I can clear off the couch. No throwing up on it, though. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” She didn’t add that it didn’t matter what she did because she’d be gone in a few hours, somehow transported back 24 hours and into that shitty little bed and breakfast once more.

“Thanks,” Maggie mumbled. “I owe you one.” And then she was gone, leaving Alex alone with Winn.

“So…you’re new here.”

“Work,” Alex grunted.

“Mm. Are you…in the meat industry?”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “No…no I’m not. Definitely not.”

“Ah. Okay.”

She waited in the entryway as Winn shuffled by with a few different computers and phones, finally reemerging with an armful of blankets and pillows, dropping one of the pillows as he staggered back to the couch, barely able to see around the pile.

“Got it.” Alex grabbed the pillow on her way into what she assumed would be her room for the first couple hours of the night. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank Maggie. Or maybe thank her by not being an ass like the rest of them.” With his arms folded across his chest, Winn glared at Alex. He wasn’t particularly intimidating, but Alex swore she could feel the anger radiating off him.

“What?” She didn’t think she’d had that much to drink, but things seemed to be making less sense than usual.

“She’s a good person, and she doesn’t deserve the shit she puts up with in this town.”

“No.”

Winn narrowed his eyes at her.

“I don’t…I’m not sure. What’d I do?”

“You tell me!”

Alex groaned, dropping down to the couch and hoping that her coat had dried out enough not to soak through the fabric. Then again, it was all temporary. When she looked up again, Winn was gone.

Half an hour later, he reappeared with a sandwich and a second large glass of water now that she’d finished her first. “Courtesy of someone much better than you’ll ever hope to be.”

“Scuse me?” Alex managed between bites of the surprisingly tasty sandwich.

“I don’t know why she’s still here and taking care of people like you.”

Feeling a little more sure of herself after the water and a few bites of food, Alex glared at him. “The fuck did I do to you people?”

“You people,” Winn scoffed. “If I didn’t owe Maggie so much, I’d send you right back outside.”

“I didn’t ask to stay!”

“Maggie’s worried about you. And that means you’ve got a nice roof over your head and people to watch over you, even after what you did to her.”

“What did I do?” Alex could remember being an ass on other occasions, but not during this particular version of the day.

Not quite talking to Alex so much as he was ranting, Winn shook his head in frustration. “You’re all so full of yourself. Assume she’d be hitting on you—like it’s that simple.”

“Oh.” Alex’s head seemed to fight her as she thought back to the ride to Winn’s. “I didn’t—I was joking, that’s all.”

“Yeah, it’s always a joke for you. Ever think about how it might feel for her?”

“What?”

“Course you don’t.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Let’s see if we can’t find new ways to mock the gays in town.”

“Wait. She thinks…” Alex rubbed at her temples, wishing she could will away the rest of the beer that was still muddling her thoughts. “No.”

“Save it.”

Watching Winn walk away, Alex wasn’t sure why she cared what he thought, especially knowing that he’d forget all about it by the next day, but she found herself yelling after him anyway. “I’m gay!”

That stopped him. “What?”

“I’m gay.”

“So when you asked Maggie if she was hitting on you…”

“I was, I don’t know, tryna be funny,” Alex mumbled, stuffing her face with the sandwich to avoid having to say anything else.

“Oh.” Winn drummed his fingers against his thigh. “Can you give me a minute?”

Alex nodded and watched as Winn hurried off in the same direction as he had gone earlier with his pile of electronics. A few minutes later, he returned with Maggie in tow.

“Hey again.” Maggie waved awkwardly, shuffling her feet slightly and looking at the crumb-covered plate instead of at Alex. “Sorry for the, uh, confusion earlier.”

“It’s fine.”

“You’re all set up here now, but would you want…I mean, I know I mentioned a movie earlier. We could still do that. There’s not much else to do in this town.”

“Uh, sure.”

Within a few minutes, Alex found herself squished on the couch with Maggie and Winn, a horror movie playing on the large television screen, and two bowls of popcorn—one kettle corn and one butter with some M&Ms mixed in—sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

At some point Alex assumed she must have fallen asleep because when she woke, she was right back in the bed and breakfast listening to Cyndi sing and Patricia putz around and wishing beyond hope that it would all end.

\----

Over the course of the next few weeks, Alex grew increasingly frustrated. She spent whole days driving as far as she could only to end up back in Blue Springs when she awoke from a sleep she never remembered falling into. Just how far she could make it speeding down country highways with no regard for her life never ceased to amaze her, and she managed to make it to Dallas, Albuquerque, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Nashville with plenty of time to spare to enjoy the nightlife. With no future in front of her, she gorged on steaks and donuts and deep dish pizza and ice cream, eating like Kara always had while waiters looked at her with a mixture of horror and amusement. Other nights she went straight to the city’s bars. With no worries about her bank account, she became a veritable town hero, paying off the tab for the entire crowd one night or splurging on bottles of champagne for everyone on others. She let herself be led out of bars and into bathrooms and back rooms and alleyways with random women, if only to enjoy a moment of connection that felt like it might last into a morning she should have stopped hoping would ever happen. Because at 7:00am each day, without fail, she woke in a cold bed with Cyndi crooning about all the fun she was surely having.

Alex spent other days drinking alone up in her room at the bed and breakfast, ignoring Patricia’s judgmental glares. She threw away thousands of dollars at the Blue Springs Keno bar playing a game that required zero skill and a luck that she never had. One day she befriended the town drunk and spent hours buying him beer after beer until he tried to grope her outside the bar. The next day she walked into the bar and punched him square in the jaw before he could even open his mouth. She spent that night in the county jail with a couple of would-be drunk drivers, but even bars couldn’t keep the curse from sweeping her back to her lumpy mattress. The next time she ended up in that jail was after she went down to the police station and threw a knee into the groin of as many of the condescending cops as she could manage before they wrangled her into cuffs and stuffed her into the back of a cruiser.

On several occasions she had long phone fights with J’onn and Kara as she demanded to be taken off the mission—a small part of her dared to hope that maybe a formal reprieve would break the cycle. She even quit her job on a particularly bad day. Nothing changed.

At a certain point, Alex stopped counting the days, resigned to her fate. Knowing exactly how long she’d endured that fate didn’t make a difference. It was on the day she stopped counting that she wrapped her DEO-issued SUV around a tree. It didn’t matter. The next morning it was shiny and whole once more.

One night she ended up back at the Doghouse again—one of the five bars she’d gotten to know on an intimate level over the past few weeks. “Maggie!” she yelled out when she caught sight of the small woman who’d given Alex her only half-decent memory in the town.

Her eyes narrowing as she took in the newcomer, Maggie crossed her arms. “What do you want?”

“Let me buy you a drink?”

“Why?”

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Alex shook her head. “Nevermind.”

Half an hour later, Maggie ended up beside her at the bar anyway. They didn’t talk—just sat side-by-side, drinking in silence, ignored by every other patron there. Long after Alex lost count of the number of drinks she’d ordered, she rolled an empty glass on the wooden bar. “What would you do,” she mused, “if you were stuck in one place, and everything that you did was the same, and nothing mattered?”

It wasn’t really a question, but after a minute, Maggie tossed back the last sips of her drink. “Who’s to say that’s not already my life?” With that, she threw down enough money to cover her drinks and a generous tip for a bartender who had barely deigned to serve her, let alone serve her promptly, and left.

From that point on, Alex made a point of seeking out Maggie, having gotten her schedule pretty much down to an art. She knew she could find her getting coffee around 9, then at Casey’s by 11 to pick up supplies. After that she went down to the forest and the river for a while. And eventually she ended up at the Doghouse for drinks. Though Alex found she could change Maggie’s routine too. If she let Maggie find her drunk earlier in the day, Maggie would take care of her for the rest of the night if she sounded in a bad way. If she took her up on her offer to take her out of the woods, they could grab food together. Maggie rarely talked much, and even after what felt like endless variations of the routine together, Alex found she knew almost nothing about the woman, so she made it her new goal to get to know her—get to know everything about her. After all, the only thing she had left was time. Unlimited time with the same goddam people.

\---

The next January 23rd, Alex waited and waited until Maggie showed up for her coffee. “Hey! Maggie?” she called out, jogging over to Maggie’s truck.

“Can I help you?”

“I…uh, someone said if I wanted to go hiking by the river, I should talk to you.”

“Oh really? Someone actually suggested you talk to me? Who the hell did you piss off?”

Alex’s hands curled up into fists at the way the whole town apparently treated Maggie, but she tried to keep her face relaxed. “Point is: think you’d have time for an out-of-town visitor? I promise I’ll keep up.”

“I’ve got an errand to run first.”

“I don’t mind.”

Sighing, Maggie shook her head. “It’s something I need to do on my own. How about you go find some warmer layers and meet me back here. Unless, do you know where Casey’s is?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, meet me there at 11.”

“Sounds good.”

Part of Alex wanted to follow Maggie to find out where she disappeared to for nearly two hours, but the other part of her respected the woman’s privacy. If nothing else, she could always go find out another day.

Eventually Maggie returned, her truck’s tires crunching through the gravel. “I need to grab a few things before we head out.”

“Okay,” Alex agreed, following closely as Maggie led the way to the general store. Over the course of Maggie’s shopping, Alex got the sense that she didn’t exactly enjoy having a human shadow, but she didn’t push Alex off or ask her to leave either.

“You want to drive separately?”

“We can take the one car if you want.”

“You’re not gonna—look, you sure you don’t want your own car?”

“Promise.”

“Fine,” Maggie relented.

The first few minutes of the drive were spent in silence as Maggie fiddled with the radio. When it became clear that the radio was little more than a distraction, Alex cleared her throat. “I’m Alex Danvers.”

“Maggie Sawyer.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“Grew up here.” She looked less than thrilled, Alex noted.

“So you’ve never left?”

“Didn’t say that. Took some time away for school.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“Mm.”

Alex longed to know more but couldn’t figure out how to make her open up. “I never left California.”

“Big state.”

“Yeah… My family’s there too.”

“Hmm.”

“Is yours here?”

As Maggie jammed on the gas, peeling away from the latest stop sign, Alex let out an involuntary huff of air, her seatbelt pulling taut across her chest and making it hard to breathe.

“Yeah.”

“Do you…do they work in the park too?”

“No.” Alex watched Maggie’s fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “Mom—my mother—she’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine.”

“No, I just…I, uh, I know what it’s like. To worry about losing a parent. Well, and to lose one.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s been a while.”

Maggie merely nodded. “We’re here.”

Alex looked up and saw the familiar woods with the dense clusters of trees. The ground still had patches of untouched snow. Alex wondered why Maggie bothered to come out here in the winter; it was clear few people ventured too close—at least not in this weather.

“Be careful. There’s some ice.”

“Got it. Will do.”

For a while, they walked in silence—the only sound, the crunching of their boots against the twigs and icy snow.

“How long were you gone?”

Maggie hesitated for a moment before trudging forward once more. “Not long enough.”

“Yeah…small towns are hard. Sure your mom appreciates having you here, though.”

Maggie laughed darkly. “She’s basically comatose. And if she weren’t, she wouldn’t want me here.”

“What? That can’t be true.”

“Look, I’m sure you’re trying to be helpful, but you’re not. Let’s just walk in silence.”

“Okay.” In a softer voice, Alex added, “I’m sorry.”

As they walked, venturing into different parts of the woods than Alex had explored on her own, she kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. It wouldn’t matter too much, since the day was going to repeat for all of eternity, but it gave Alex something to do.

“Why are you in Blue Springs?”

Pretending like the question hadn’t completely startled her, Alex shrugged. “Work.”

“Really? Are you in…farming?”

With a snort of laughter, Alex shook her head. “No. Uh, law enforcement.”

“That so?”

“FBI. Needed some files from the local police department.”

“I guess you will have met my father.”

“Really?” Alex didn’t remember seeing any Sawyers on the force, and she got to learn most of their names while being read the charges for attacking them.

“Oscar. Oscar Rodas.”

“Oh! Oh, yeah…he actually had my files.”

“Hmm.”

“Think he’ll be more helpful if I mention how great his daughter is?” Alex asked with a laugh and a wink. But Maggie didn’t laugh back; instead, her features hardened. Alex could see the muscles in her jaw working.

“No.”

“Oh. Sorry. Family is…never easy.”

“Yeah. You can say that again.”

“Stuck living with them while you’re back?”

“Haven’t lived with them for over 15 years.”

“Oh. Wow, you look young for your age!”

Maggie’s lip curled up into a smile that looked anything but happy. “I’m 30. They kicked me out a while back.”

“Oh. Shit, Maggie, I’m so sorry.”

“Save it.”

Alex bit at the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something stupid—as if she hadn’t already. At least tomorrow she’d get a do-over.

Eventually she couldn’t bear the silence any longer. “I really am sorry. I would never have brought them up if I’d known.”

“Surprised you don’t already know all about it. Especially if anyone saw you talking to me earlier.”

“Who’s to say I’d have cared what they had to say?”

“If you’re looking for help in this town, it’d serve you well to care a little.”

“Not looking for help from jackasses.”

“That? Coming from a fed?”

For a moment Alex was ready to snap back at Maggie, but then she noticed the small smile—the first one that looked genuine.

“You saying you dreamed of being a local cop or something?”

“Something like that. Think bigger, though. More of a detective type.”

“Ah yes…”

“I actually was a cop for a bit. Passed the detective exam too.”

“That’s awesome.” Alex wasn’t sure why, but she felt a surge of pride for this woman she barely knew.

“Would be. But I moved back here around that time for my mother. No one would hire me. Not like any witnesses would ever cooperate with someone like me.”

“That’s bullshit. Not like your sexuality has anything to do with your job.”

Before Alex could react, even with her federal agent training, Maggie had rounded on her and pinned her to a tree. “You said you hadn’t heard anything about me. What are you trying to do? Lure me out here and attack me? Tell stories to the whole town?”

“What?” Alex gasped, shaking her head the small amount she could manage. “No! It’s nothing like that!” There was no good way to say that she knew because it had already come up on this day so many iterations ago. “I…uh…good gaydar?”

“Bullshit. Half the town is in flannel.”

“Yeah, but, uh, you’ve got short nails.” Banking on the hope that her own sexuality could help her, Alex added with a small grin: “Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes and glared at Alex, looking for any signs that she was being played. “What do you mean?”

“I stayed in California for a few reasons—lot easier to meet women there, for one.”

“You’re…?”

“Gay.” Slowly but surely, Maggie released her grip. Alex rolled her shoulders and tried to slow her heartrate.

“Sorry.” Maggie still didn’t sound particularly apologetic.

“It’s fine. Guess this isn’t the best place to be gay?”

“Try one of the worst.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well…I made the choice to come back.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, why come back?”

“I don’t—I wasn’t going to. It wasn’t like they’d reached out or anything over the years. And they hadn’t wanted anything to do with me after they kicked me out. But I worried that if I didn’t come and see her before—just before—then I might regret it forever.”

“That can’t be easy.”

“It’s not,” Maggie admitted, her voice sounding rougher than earlier. “But I’m here. And she’s…lingering. And it’s been a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I’m—well, I’m adapting.”

“Pretty selfless of you to go out and help people who don’t care enough to even give you a chance.”

“Gives me something to do—that’s all.”

Alex doubted it, but she didn’t say anything.

“So”—Maggie cleared her throat and tucked her hair behind her ears beneath her hat—“what kind of case brings a fed out here?”

“Oh. Uh, to be honest, probably nothing worth the trip.”

“Ah, okay.” After a minute, Maggie asked: “So what’d you do wrong to get assigned here?”

“Real answer: I don’t even know. I asked not to be…and not just for the obvious reasons. My sister—she lives back in National City with me. And I worry that if I’m not there, she’s in danger, or you know, something bad could happen, and it’d be my fault because I wasn’t there to protect her.”

“Surely she’s her own person. You can’t be there for her all the time every day.”

“You’d be surprised,” Alex replied with a dry laugh. “My mom—my sister’s adopted, and ever since she become part of the family, my mom always expected me to put her first. And it’s fine, you know, I’m not complaining. But it seems like I’m never enough—like I’m never doing enough to keep her safe.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I shouldn’t be complaining when—I just shouldn’t.”

Maggie shot Alex a knowing look. “Shitty things are shitty things, even if someone else’s shit seems worse.”

“Pretty wise for thirty,” Alex teased.

“And yet, in all my infinite wisdom, I left my lunch at home on the counter, and now I’m pretty hungry.”

“Oh, I’ve got some really gross protein bars.” Alex rummaged around in her bag, finally locating the last two.

“So generous, Danvers.”

Alex felt her cheeks warm slightly at the nickname and tried to tamp down on whatever impulse it was. “Yeah well…if you eat one, it’s one less for me to be stuck eating down the line. Because it’ll be gone. And maybe I can get something else.” Cringing at the awkward rambling, Alex shook her head and shoved a bar into Maggie’s hand. “Take it and let’s ignore me.”

“I think it’d probably be so much more fun to dwell on it.”

“Shut up. You’re the worst.”

“Ah, now you sound like a true Blue Springs resident!”

“You’ve got a pretty decent sense of humor about it.”

“Gallows humor, perhaps,” Maggie mused. “It helps that I have a friend this time around.”

Thinking of the brown-haired man whose house she’d crashed at—the one who had so staunchly defended Maggie’s honor in her absence—Alex felt her mouth curling up into a smile. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Winn Schott. He’s quirky, and the town doesn’t like him any more than me, but he’s pretty great.”

“Wait…Schott?”

“Yeah. Why? Look, he’s not his dad.”

“His dad?”

“Nevermind.”

“No, he was—that name sounds familiar.”

“Look, I’m 99-percent certain you’re thinking of the other Winn Schott, so I’d let it go. This one is a good kid—man—whatever.”

“No, no, I’m not doubting it.” Deciding it wasn’t worth pursuing it any further when she was finally getting somewhere with the closest thing she had to a friend in this town, Alex changed the subject. “What do you do for fun around here?”

“Drive. Hike. Watch movies with Winn. Nothing too exciting. I’m not planning to be in Blue Springs too much longer. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I’m still here these days.”

Alex was suddenly struck with the crazy thought that Maggie might leave with her, that they might road trip across the country to California in that old pickup truck of Maggie’s and they could take turns driving and controlling the radio. She shook it away as soon as it appeared, though.

“You look like you’re thinking hard, Danvers.”

“Oh—no, it’s dumb.”

“Yeah? I’m dumb enough to hang out with a bunch of people who hate me so that I can be here to nod and try to feel something when one of the people who kicked me out and told me she never wants to see me again dies.”

“That’s not dumb. That’s…complicated.”

“Whatever you say… But seriously, what idea do you have? Because I could use a little genuine fun for a change. Though don’t tell Winn that movies with him aren’t fun. They are. But there’s a limit to the number of horror movies I can watch without growing bored.”

“No, it was absurd. I just—I thought maybe we could drive somewhere.” She left off the part about driving all the way to California.

“Where?”

“Well, I’ve driven quite a few places in the day.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. We could go to Chicago. Or Nashville. Or Albuquerque.”

Maggie let out a loud bark of laughter that seemed to go on forever as it got lost up in the tree tops. “Long drives.”

“Not too bad if you have the right incentive.” For a moment, Alex swore she saw a flash of something she couldn’t quite name in Maggie’s expression, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

“How about you come back to me one morning with that idea after you’ve wrapped up your case? I might just take you up on it.”

“Really?”

“Really. But let’s not do Chicago. I want a chance at something warmer.”

“Deal.”

Eventually, after finding no lost hikers in the woods, they wandered back to Maggie’s truck. “We could drive for a little while now if you want,” Maggie offered. “They’re calling for snow tonight, but I’ll have you back before dinner.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They drove over miles and miles of flat country road, and Alex thought it must have been the company that made it all look a little different because this time around, she found she didn’t hate every second of it. In fact, she even started to enjoy herself.

That night, Maggie cooked Alex dinner and told her about the messy breakup that had been the final impetus for her move back to Blue Springs. Alex talked about her inability to hold down a girlfriend with the odd hours that came with the territory of working in law enforcement.

“This was nice,” Maggie said, her voice quiet, as they sat on the couch, the remnants of a pint of vegan ice cream that Alex had dubbed too “gross” to try slowly melting, and an empty bottle of wine on the ground beside them.

“It really was.”

“Maybe…if you’ve got time before you head back, maybe we could do dinner again?”

Alex wanted to laugh; the only thing she had was time these days. “I’d love to.”

When Maggie smiled, Alex noticed the dimples that had caught her attention so many iterations of the day ago. She wished there was a way to ensure that Maggie always had someone there to make her smile. Maggie’s voice broke her out of her musings. “Danvers?”

“Yeah?”

“I was saying that it’s starting to really snow. I should probably get you back wherever you’re staying in case the roads get bad.”

“Oh. Right.” There wasn’t a good way to say that she already had a guaranteed way to get back.

The ride home was quiet, though not uncomfortable. When they arrived at the bed and breakfast, Alex smiled wistfully over at Maggie. “See you tomorrow?”

“How about you see where your work takes you and then let me know, okay?”

Even though she already knew exactly where it would take her—right back to 7:00am and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”—Alex agreed, pushing the door open and stepping down into the inch or so of snow that had already accumulated. “And Maggie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for a great night.”

\---

The next morning brought with it a flurry of emotions—anger and frustration still prominent, but a new sense of sadness and loss over a connection that would have already been forgotten. She went back to meet Maggie at her morning coffee spot again, but when she was met with the same guarded wariness as before, anger at the world bubbled up inside her chest, and she stormed off before Maggie could say another word.

She spent that day, and the next day, and then one more day after that, drinking alone and keeping her path away from Maggie’s routine.

After too many days of drinking cheap beer alone, Alex decided to spend another day driving. With a full tank of gas and no maps or destinations in mind, Alex set off in her SUV. She only made it a few miles before getting into a minor collision with the pickup truck she was beginning to think she could spot from miles away. The accident had been, well, accidental, and it was certainly minor, but it didn’t quell Maggie’s anger.

Their spat in the middle of the road about fault—Alex had readily admitted it until Maggie yelled at her for it; then she wanted to contest it—was definitely one of their worst interactions to date. It was only later that Alex realized Maggie’s early errand was probably visiting her mother in the hospital, and she was overtaken by a wave of guilt and nausea.

For the next few days, Alex watched Maggie from a distance. She didn’t want to disturb her routine again. Instead, she observed—saw how the other residents kept their distance, listened to the murmured comments that weren’t quiet enough to be ignored, watched as bartenders and servers waited until they were out of any other customers before they took her order—not that it kept her from leaving them generous tips they didn’t deserve.

After several days of watching, Alex tried confronting one of the tables who laughed much too loudly after Maggie left, gleefully discussing their theories about why she’d come back and who she thought she was fooling. By the time they made it to threatening remarks, Alex had a hand on her holstered weapon and a glare that made men shrivel on her face. “Her father still works for the police, you know. You can’t just make threats like those and expect there not to be any repercussions.”

Standing up to leer at her, one of the men laughed loudly into her face. His hot breath reeked of beer, and Alex had to swallow the wave of queasiness that threatened to overtake her. “Don’t ya know? He’s the one that packed her fuckin bags the first time around!”

Alex settled with punching him in the solar plexus—and then once more in the gut for good measure—before striding purposefully out of the bar.

The next day, she walked straight through the bullpen and into Oscar Rodas’ office, kicking the door shut behind her. “How dare you?” she growled, towering over him.

“Excuse me?”

“How fucking dare you abandon your own child?”

“You have no right to be in my office!”

“Just tell me how you sleep with yourself at night, and I’ll leave.”

He kept silent.

“I’m waiting.”

“You don’t come in here and act like you understand the decisions or the sacrifices I’ve made for my family.”

“Wrong answer.”

She hoped everyone asked him what he’d done to deserve two matching black eyes. She wondered what he’d done when not a single other officer tried to help him.

\---

After what felt like weeks of violent retribution that would never be remembered and long, lonely nights spent drinking in bars or in her room, Alex resolved to try a new approach.

The next morning, she gritted her teeth and didn’t yell at the alarm clock. When Patricia knocked on the door, Alex answered and volunteered to be led down to breakfast. She even called the woman Patty and got a warm smile in return. A part of her wanted to know whether Patty and Dennis were the kind to treat her well but turn their backs on Maggie. She suspected she already knew the answer.

Sitting alongside a handful of other residents—the “B&B Boarders” that Patty simply loved—Alex let herself be fed buttery pancakes and fatty bacon until she couldn’t possibly stomach another bite. At the end of the meal, she thanked Patty and promised to see her the next morning, even if Patty would never have a memory of it.

After a long shower and a phone call with Kara, Alex headed down to Casey’s, where she bumped into Maggie. “Going camping?”

“What?” Maggie asked, looking genuinely surprised at the apparently pleasant human interaction.

“Helmet lamp, batteries, lighter, knife. Thought you might be headed out to go camping or something.”

“Oh. No. I, uh, I’m off to see if anyone is lost in the woods. It’s pretty easy to end up lost with the sun setting as early as it does, and with the cold snap, I wouldn’t want anyone to get hypothermia.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Maggie didn’t acknowledge the compliment. “My ex-girlfriend used to love camping.”

That caught her attention. “What?”

“Yeah, back in grad school she’d always try to drag me out of the lab for a long weekend. I’m not…overly outdoorsy. I don’t mind it, but I’d like to have some plumbing. Maybe even electricity.” Alex snorted as she shook her head. “Kendra said that didn’t count as camping.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Alex Danvers.” Alex extended a hand and smiled when Maggie took it. “I’m in town for a couple of days on my way across the country.” It sounded more plausible than anything else, unless she wanted to pretend that she worked in the meat or farming industries.

“Ah. Interesting choice of places to stop.”

“I’ve never been, so…here I am!”

“Here you are.”

“Anything you might recommend? Or, I don’t know, would you want any company on your trip out to save people?” Putting her hands in the air, Alex added, “I might not like camping, but I promise I’m great at hiking, and I’m stronger than I look.”

A smirk curled up one corner of Maggie’s mouth. “That so, Danvers?”

“Girl Scout’s honor.”

“I guess having some company might be a nice change of pace.”

“Excellent. Now, I know I’m probably already putting a damper on your plans, but would you want to get lunch first? I wouldn’t want to end up hungry out on the trail.”

“That’s actually a great idea. I normally pack a sandwich or something, but I realized on the drive out here that I left it at home.”

I know, Alex thought. “Perfect.”

Over lunch, Alex asked Maggie all about her college and postgrad years and found that memories of her time away from Blue Springs were a pretty good way to get her dimples out in full force. She talked about her roommate and teammates from the club softball team she had joined. She reminisced about the early years of her career, and she and Alex traded stories—well, censored stories for Alex—about some of their craziest cases. By the time they were done, Alex wanted nothing more than to tell Maggie to ignore the woods—she already knew no one would be there—and come back with her to spend the whole day together doing nothing but talking and eating and simply being together—not that she would say no to anything more if Maggie wanted it.

Instead, Alex let herself be driven out to the forest and plodded along what were becoming well-worn paths looking for hikers who would never be there. But, knowing better than to waste time looking for clues or evidence of alien life this time around, she used their hours in the woods to learn even more about the woman she found she’d come to care for over her weeks stuck in the 23rd. If real life were anything like those cheesy romcoms Kara liked so much, Alex might believe that the secret to escaping her day was making Maggie Sawyer fall in love with her or something dumb like that. But she knew better, even if a small voice nagging in the back of her head kept yelling that it was worth a damn try, that really, anything was worth trying once.

“You really can keep up, huh,” Maggie noted, watching as Alex deftly navigated past a tangle of roots that had tripped her up during her first few ventures into the woods.

“What can I say? I’m a natural.”

“Show off.”

“Nothing wrong with showing off when you’re this good.”

Maggie bit her lower lip, and Alex swore she saw the woman’s eyes rake up and down her body. “What do you say to having dinner with me?”

“I think I’d love to.”

Which was how Alex found herself back at Maggie’s house half an hour later, wearing a pair of borrowed sweatpants that didn’t have any pine needles and mud caked to the hems from long treks through the forest. Standing off to the side, she watched as Maggie dragged in a few logs from the shed for the fireplace.

“You really don’t have to do all this.”

“No, I insist. You were great company today, and I don’t—patrol isn’t normally as much fun.”

“Well in that case, I certainly won’t say no to a warm fire.”

“Don’t forget food while you’re thinking of things to refuse and insist are unnecessary until I eventually convince you otherwise,” Maggie teased, stepping back once the flames began crackling around the brittle edges of the wood.

“Okay, but really, I’m not that hungry. I could totally—”

“Danvers,” Maggie interjected. “I told you I’d have you over for dinner, and I’ll make dinner.”

Realizing there would be no arguing her point, Alex nodded. “At least let me help?”

“Absolutely.”

As it turned out, Alex wasn’t a great help. Without knowing where anything was, Maggie found herself giving instructions, then running over to do it herself, effectively doubling the time it took to perform simple tasks. Eventually they got dinner ready, and Alex managed to set the table and uncork a bottle of wine with minimal outside help.

“This smells amazing.”

“It’s nothing. Really.”

“I’ve been eating a whole lot of burgers and sandwiches and mediocre French fries in this town, Sawyer. Accept the damn compliment.”

“That’s like reading Twilight and calling it good because the only other thing you’d read recently was 50 Shades.”

“Speaking from experience?”

Maggie didn’t deign to dignify such an accusation with a response, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Alex until she relented with a warm laugh.

“I know this might sound dumb”—Maggie paused, twisting her fork between her fingertips—“but I feel like I know you better than most people here already, even though we only met today.”

“I understand that. God, I understand that better than you’ll ever know.” Maggie tilted her head to the side, but Alex waved off the unspoken question. “You asked why I chose this town for my trip. It’s a long story, but I didn’t really choose it. In fact, I fought really hard not to be here. And, I’ll be honest, I’m still pretty certain in that decision.” Maggie chuckled and raised her glass in a toast. “But if being in Blue Springs is the price I had to pay to meet you? I don’t know. It might just be worth it.”

“That’s pretty cheesy.”

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Alex rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t quite ignore the swoop of excitement in her gut or the swirl of emotions racing though her thoughts.

“You done?” Maggie gestured at Alex’s plate, already starting the process of clearing her own dishes.

“You cooked. Let me clean.”

“Just put them in the sink, really. I’ll deal with them later.”

That’s not a bad idea, Alex thought to herself, considering they’d be gone again in the morning. No reason to waste time doing them now.

“Want anything for dessert? I don’t have much; I’m a little behind on grocery shopping. But my neighbor Winn is a pretty decent baker, and I think I’ve still got some of his brownies around here somewhere…” Alex found herself more distracted by the sight of Maggie leaning over to rummage in her fridge than by the question, but she was able to pull her gaze back up to eye-level when Maggie stood up once more, a triumphant grin on her face and a Tupperware of brownies clutched in her hands. “Got ’em!”

“Excellent.”

Maggie plucked a few from the container and arranged them on a small plate. “Want to sit in the living room? We could leave the cookies near the fire to warm up for a few minutes.”

“Sounds perfect.”

While Alex settled into her spot on the couch, Maggie stoked the fire and got their brownies set up an appropriate distance away for warming without catching fire.

“Come join me on the couch?” Alex suggested, lifting the blanket she had pulled over herself and looking up at Maggie.

When her gaze reached Maggie’s face, she found her smiling, but there was something different in it this time. Over all the days she’d spent there and with Maggie, she’d gotten to know her different smiles. There was the one that was barely even a smile—more of a grimace, really—that she’d give to Alex before she knew anything about her, the kind of smile born of too many years of abuse from the people around her. Then there was the surprised smile that came with a quirk in her eyebrows and a slight crinkle between them. Alex normally got that one after she said anything about ex-girlfriends or being gay for the first time. There was also the amused grin, and then a soft expression that came with the small upturn of the corners of Maggie’s mouth. There was the open-mouthed smile that went along with a loud laugh, and then a smirk that normally came with a comment that could be seen as flirty or, more often, teasing. Finally there was one that was so carefree that it stole Alex’s breath away. She’d only seen it a scant few times, but she swore she’d do a lot of things to keep it there permanently.

The new smile was soft and bright all at once, but there was something more there, something deeper that seemed to be playing about the edges, leaving Alex’s heart hammering in her chest and heat coursing through her.

“Yeah. We should probably give the brownies a few minutes to thaw,” Maggie murmured, looking slightly uncertain and wringing her hands together.

Alex nodded in agreement. “Right, right. No reason for you to be stuck standing, though, right?” She moved closer to her side of the couch as Maggie sat down and tucked herself under the blanket.

“I had a really nice day with you, Alex.”

“Me too.” It was barely a whisper. “I don’t…I’m not quite ready for it to be over.”

“Don’t worry, there are still brownies! Not holding you captive for no reason.”

Alex swore she could hear the hint of uncertainty and fear in Maggie’s laugh. She suspected if they weren’t in Blue Springs, that fear would never have been there. And god, she didn’t want it there. “I think…I think if it’s okay with you, there’s something besides eating brownies that I’d like to do before today is over.”

“Yeah?”

And there was that smile again. Alex didn’t question her gut reaction to it a second time, darting out her tongue to wet her lips before leaning forward, her eyes fluttering shut as her lips found Maggie’s. And then they were kissing, and it was soft and just a little awkward and everything Alex had wanted since the night Maggie had come back to Winn’s house looking vulnerable and somewhat bashful but not at all apologetic for her instinct toward guardedness.

As the fire crackled in the living room and the snow began to fall outside, Alex let herself get lost in the feel of Maggie’s lips against her own, the pull of Maggie’s teeth on her bottom lip, the soft press of Maggie’s hands along her back and around her jaw and in her hair. She let herself be lowered down to the couch and took the opportunity to pepper Maggie’s neck and collarbone with kisses and gentle, teasing nips that left Maggie keening.

“Bedroom?” Alex finally managed when it got to the point where she suspected that it was either leave then or resign themselves to having sex right there on the couch that was barely long enough to be considered anything other than a loveseat.

“Just one second.” Before Alex could panic that she had pushed too hard or gone too far, Maggie was back, having done little more than move the nearly molten brownies away from the fire. Tangling her fingers with Alex’s, Maggie led her up the stairs and into the main room. “You sure?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so certain,” Alex answered, marveling at how true it was. And then she stopped thinking as Maggie led her to the bed and began the process of slowly undressing her.

By the time Maggie was curled into Alex’s chest, her skin glowing in the soft light of the lamp on the bedside table and the reflection of the moon on the blanket of white snow outside the windows, Alex felt her heart clench, knowing it was all coming to an end too soon. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered as her fingers carded through Maggie’s hair.

“I’ll miss you too. But maybe”—Maggie took a deep breath, twisting the sheets in her hand—“maybe you’ll end up back here again?”

“Oh, I think that’s more likely than you’d expect.”

“And maybe…maybe I’ll finally leave this town for good again. I never thought—you know what, it doesn’t matter. Not right now.”

“I hope whatever you do, it brings you some peace. And happiness too. You deserve it.”

“This sounds an awful lot like goodbye for someone who’s stuck here through the night.”

Alex could feel her heart breaking at how resigned Maggie sounded to the idea of everything already being an ending. “Something about the late hour. Makes me melancholy, I guess.” Because it meant an end, and for once, that ending was so much more painful than it ever had been.

“I know a few very effective ways of chasing away melancholy feelings…” With a playful smirk, Maggie threw her leg across Alex’s hips and let her hands slip back under the sheets and over soft skin, managing to keep Alex distracted as their minutes left together ticked by.

\---

Alex let Cyndi Lauper belt it out all the way through the chorus before turning her alarm off the following morning. With a resigned sigh, she traipsed down to breakfast with the group, but she couldn’t manage the enthusiastic smile she had before.

Instead of going out, she went back up to her bedroom and curled up in her bed, letting the tears fall until she couldn’t bear another minute of crying. It was then that she called Kara.

“Hey, Alex!” Kara chirped. “How’s Blue Springs?”

“I need to tell you something that’s going to sound…not quite believable.”

“Um…okay? Should you be talking to J’onn?”

“No. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Alright…”

Alex gritted her teeth at the way Kara stretched out the word; she knew her sister was already skeptical, and she needed her to understand it now more than ever. “Look, it’s January 23rd, and I’m in Blue Springs, and I have been for something like months now, Kara.”

“Excuse me?”

“Time…it repeats. I can’t get out of this day.”

“I really think you should talk to J’onn, Alex. He’d—”

“It doesn’t help! I’ve tried! You think that wasn’t the first thing I did?”

“I don’t—”

“Kara, there are no weird alien residues on me. I’ve already been brought back to the DEO to check, and I still end up back here when the day restarts.”

“Do you want me to come get you?”

“You’re welcome to come visit, but I’m telling you, it won’t change anything.”

“Well then…what do you want?”

“This is going to sound so stupid, but what—in all your stupid cheesy movies, if something like this were to happen, how would it be stopped?”

“What?” Kara let out a loud bark of a laugh that was only met with silence. “Wait. You’re serious?”

“I’m running out of options!”

“I don’t know! There’d be something with finding true love maybe?”

“Okay, so, what if I think…what if I think that maybe I already have?”

“Wait. Alex! What? That’s amazing! How did this happen? Tell me everything!”

And as much as Alex wanted to protest that all of this gushing could wait, she reasoned that it might be part of the solution, so she let herself get lost in stories as she told Kara all about Maggie and the days they’d spent together, and somehow that seemed to convince Kara that it was real more than anything else. After all, her sister wasn’t exactly known for her love of romance, and for her to wax poetic about someone and giggle—Kara would swear she giggled—well, it had to be real.

“So what? Do I tell her that I’m falling for her?”

“Maybe try something romantic? What if she needs to say it back?”

“Okay, okay. It’s already afternoon, so I need to act fast.”

“Do you have thoughts?”

“Now that you mention it, I could use a little bit of super-powered help…”

That evening, Alex sat outside Maggie’s house waiting for the trip she now knew the woman made between going to the woods and going to the bars on days when she didn’t interfere. When the lights of Maggie’s car illuminated the front of the house, Alex left her bags by the door and walked slowly over with her hands held up in the hopes of calming Maggie’s nerves.

“Who are you?” Maggie called out, and Alex could see her hand curling around something in her pocket.

“My name is Alex Danvers. I’m not…it’s a long story, but I’m not like the other people in this town. I don’t want to taunt you or hurt you. I want…I need to show you something.”

“Why should I trust you?” Maggie advanced slowly, her gait measured.

“I know that you’re one of the youngest people ever to pass the detective exam. I know that you had a job offer for that promotion in Gotham, but that you chose to come back here to be with your mother, even though your parents hadn’t talked to you since they kicked you out of the house at 14 for doing little more than following your heart and sending an innocent Valentine’s Day card.” Alex watched Maggie’s face transform from confusion to shock to hurt. “I know that there’s a part of you that wishes you never came back, even though you’d rather deal with this than always wonder or spend the rest of your life carrying around deep regret for not seeing her before she died.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m…I’m a federal agent.”

That drew Maggie’s attention, and within seconds, Alex was backed up against the wall. “What do you want from me?”

“Hey! It’s not like that! I…look, I get that it sounds crazy, but I know you, Maggie. I know you, and I like you a whole lot more than I ever thought was possible.”

Maggie regarded her with suspicion, though she looked more confused and nervous than angry at that point.

“Would you at least listen to me for an hour? I got your favorite foods. The pizza you liked from that little shop out in Brooklyn that Emily took you to when things between you two were still good. The cannoli from South Philly that almost taste like your grandma’s recipe. If nothing else, you can at least get a good dinner out of me.”

“I suppose.” Maggie’s reluctant acceptance didn’t mean the suspicion disappeared, though, and she refused to turn her back on Alex, even as she fumbled with the lock on the door.

Over dinner, Alex talked about herself and her life back in National City, giving Maggie enough information that she began to lower her guard—not much, but enough. By the time they made it to dessert, the snow had begun to fall.

“Can you—would you come outside with me?”

“Uh…okay.”

Alex led Maggie outside, tangling their fingers together and squeezing her hand tighter when Maggie didn’t pull away. “I know that you don’t know me too well. I know that you don’t remember the time we spent together. But, Maggie? I’ve been falling for you for a while now. I’ve been falling hard and fast. And you deserve to know”—Alex took a deep gulp of air, willing her heart to slow down—“you deserve to know that I love you.”

“I—I don’t—”

“It’s fine, really. I wouldn’t expect you to love someone you think you’ve only just met.” It stung, but Alex had already prepared herself for the rejection. “I just…there’s one last thing I want to try, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure?”

Reaching into her coat pocket, Alex pulled out her phone and hit play on a song that had been playing on the radio during one of their early drives together—one of the first times Maggie had opened up to Alex. “Dance with me?”

“What?” Maggie gave Alex one of her surprised, slightly incredulous smiles. But Alex was already wrapping her arms around Maggie and smiling when the woman acquiesced and began moving with her. They were barely swaying, but the moment was everything Alex had hoped it would be. With the moonlight shining through the treetops and the snowflakes clinging to Maggie’s hair and eyelashes, Alex knew she’d never see anything quite so beautiful—no matter how many times she repeated the day.

“Can I kiss you?”

“I assume it’s all part of this experiment?”

“A little bit.”

Maggie sighed, then let out a huff of laughter. “I guess you did bring me my favorite food…”

And then Alex was kissing Maggie for the second time, and it was as exhilarating as the first time had been. But she didn’t feel the earth shake beneath her feet or the heavens shift as though recalibrating to break her out of the cycle. When they broke apart, tear tracks streaked down Alex’s cheeks, and her wet eyelashes clung together, at risk of freezing in the cold night air.

“Hey, Alex, are you okay?”

“No,” Alex admitted, shaking her head.

“Come inside, okay?”

Alex followed Maggie and let herself be dried off and handed a fresh sweater to wear while they talked. “I just…I know it sounds crazy, but I hate this. I hate knowing that tomorrow you’ll wake up and never remember me.”

“Are you…a time traveler?”

“No. In fact, I’m more of a time-stayer, if that’s a thing.”

Maggie furrowed her brow as she tried to piece things together.

“You’re going to keep waking up on January 23rd, thinking that yesterday was January 22nd and knowing that the following day will be January 24th, because you know that’s how time works. But I’ll wake up with memories of a hundred todays in my head without anyone to share it with. I’ll wake up feeling more and more alone as I watch every connection I’ve forged disappear before my very eyes, as I watch the woman I’m falling in love with forget me time and time again.”

“Oh.”

“You think I’m crazy?”

“No. No, I don’t actually.”

“Wait. What?”

“Okay, this might sound crazy, but aliens—they’re real. And it’s not just Superman and his enemies and stuff.”

Alex let out a loud laugh before schooling her features into a more appropriate expression.

“Alex, I’m serious! There’s—weird things happen, and sometimes it seems like they don’t have a cause, but it’s only because there isn’t a human cause.”

“No! No, no, I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m laughing because I know. I agree.”

“Oh.” Maggie took a moment to process the turn of events. “Oh. Alright.”

“Yeah. But what do they have to do with all of this?”

“Right! Okay, really, you can’t laugh, but my friend Winn, he saw something in the woods the other night, and he went in and did some digging into old files and maps, and I think there’s something here in Blue Springs that could be causing these…I don’t know what to call them. Glitches in the passage of time, maybe?”

“Wait. Winn…did he report this to the FBI?”

“Ugh, only because there’s no way to get in touch with the DEO.”

“You know about the DEO?” Alex exclaimed, rounding on Maggie.

“You know about the DEO?” Maggie countered, looking incredulous.

“I…”

“Oh my god. You are DEO!”

“No!”

“You are! You’re here to investigate, aren’t you?”

“I…maybe.”

“Oh my god, Winn is gonna flip.”

“No! No, people can’t know.”

“If you want help getting out of here, I swear, Winn is your guy.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean that if there is some sort of alien tech doing something weird, he’ll be the one to find it and fix it.”

“Wait. Is this why you ‘patrol’ the woods? Are you really out there looking for alien spaceships?”

“Can I say I’m doing both?”

“Oh my god.”

“I’m serious. We should talk to Winn.”

Alex shrugged. “I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

A few minutes later, they found themselves next door, seated in a home office that was more high-tech than some of the offices at the DEO as Winn rattled off statistics about radioactive signatures and geothermal maps with spikes of high temperatures coming from the middle of the woods every so often in recent months and glitches in readings that had, until the night before, always been consistent—glitches that all began at midnight on January 22nd.

Eventually Alex cut in, “This information is all great, but how does it help me now?”

Before Winn could snap that it was much more than Alex seemed to have accomplished on her own, Maggie asked, “What time does everything reset?”

“I’m not exactly positive because I can never remember the last few moments, but I think it must be around midnight, which is pretty soon.”

“And it’s too dark now to try to navigate through the woods.” Maggie finished Alex’s thought.

“Can’t we start tomorrow?” Winn suggested.

“I can. But you won’t remember me.”

“What if we could start early in the day?”

“But I’ll still need to prove that you can trust me and explain it all every single day,” Alex huffed, feeling the frustration that was always simmering just below the surface these days threatening to bubble over.

“But maybe you don’t…”

“How so?”

“Okay, Winn and I have our own code word. In case we were ever being impersonated or held hostage, we figured they wouldn’t know it or know to compel us to use it, so it’d be a way that we’d know we could trust each other.” Alex looked expectantly up at Maggie, who looked over at Winn. “You okay if I tell her?”

“She’s the best shot we’ve got at finding out what’s going on in this town—besides, you know, bigotry and bullying.”

“Right, right, of course.” Maggie turned her attention back to Alex. “The code is 9x10x93.”

“A math problem?”

Winn looked scandalized. “You don’t realize what that is?”

Maggie chuckled, as Alex appeared to be doing the math and trying to figure out what 8,370 might mean. “It’s the air date for the first ever episode of The X-Files, which is the show we first bonded over.” Before Alex could laugh, Maggie preempted her. “I know it’s dorky as hell, but it works for us.”

“Dorkiness aside, how will I get you to listen?” Alex asked, already feeling like parts of this plan were missing.

“Tell me you’re DEO or stuck in a time loop.” Winn shrugged. “Honestly, either one of those alone would get me to listen, and if you say both, it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll be interested.”

“Alright,” Alex agreed. No matter how skeptical she remained, it was still the best hope she had.

That night, when she went to bed, she felt a sliver of hope that she knew was dangerous, though she couldn’t bring herself to deny it either.

\---

The following morning, Alex apologized profusely to Patty, explaining that she really needed to run for work but that she’d try to be back in time for dinner. She tore through her room, pulling on the warmest layers she had in anticipation of the excursion into the woods, then grabbed her gun, handcuffs, and official DEO badge just in case they ran into something other than alien tech in the forest.

She roared down quiet roads in her SUV, finally trundling up the long drive down to Maggie and Winn’s houses. After a moment’s uncertainty, Alex jogged up to Winn’s front door; he seemed the better bet when it came to getting someone interested. Alex knocked loudly on his door and waited impatiently for several long minutes until she heard Maggie’s voice calling out to her. “What do you think you’re doing out this way?”

It was at that moment that the door flung open and Winn poked his head outside. “Yeah, what she said.”

“My name is Alex Danvers, and I work for the DEO.” Winn perked up, shuffling closer to the door. “I’m stuck in today in some sort of weird time loop, and I’ve”—Alex took a deep breath and turned toward Maggie, who still looked suspicious—“I’ve spent the past month or so falling in love with you, Maggie.” After a moment, she added, “Oh and the special code I’m supposed to tell you to make you trust me is 9x10x93.”

Winn and Maggie exchanged a glance before turning their attention to the newcomer. “If we told you the code, you should also know what it means,” Maggie said, inching her way toward Alex.

“Well, Winn was scandalized that I didn’t recognize it right away—I thought it was a math problem. It’s actually the air date for the first episode of The X-Files, which you two apparently bonded over, not that either of you would have been old enough to actually watch it then,” Alex added under her breath.

“Don’t underestimate the power of reruns and VHS tapes,” Winn huffed.

“Point is: I need your help. Winn, you called the FBI because you couldn’t get the number for us at the DEO. You think that what’s causing this disturbance might be the result of whatever is in the forest that Maggie has spent the past week or two searching for. I’m here to help, but we need to start early every morning.”

“Here, I have a map of the forest.” Maggie jogged back to her house and emerged a few minutes later with a real coat on over what Alex only then realized were pajamas and a worn map in her hand. “If we go square by square in the grid, we won’t have to worry about repeating territory. That is, if you can remember it every day?”

“I can.”

“Well then let’s get ready for a hike.”

After a quick breakfast, they spent hours upon hours trekking through the woods and reporting back to Winn via walkie-talkie as he sat in the car taking copious notes and tracking possible radiation, high-frequency noises, and heat signatures.

By the end of the day, they had nothing to show, but they’d covered a fair amount of ground, and at least Alex could be sure that they were making some kind of progress toward a goal.

For the next several iterations of the day, the routine was the same. Alex would show up at their houses bright and early, convince them that she could be trusted, then eat breakfast and head to the woods. They steadily worked their way through the grid squares, though each empty chunk of forest left Alex feeling more and more dejected. Their nightly routine helped some, as they piled into Winn’s house for dinner and an episode or two of The X-Files. Maggie would leave to walk Alex out to her car each night, and Winn would send an exaggerated wink in her direction. Maggie would apologize, and Alex would shrug, telling her that the nights they spent together were the only good things to happen in the town. They’d end up making out on Maggie’s couch for hours—never anything more, not a second time—until Alex ended up back in her bed, listening to Cyndi again.

It was on their eighth day out in the woods that they finally found something, stumbling upon some kind of signature that had Winn crackling in over their walkie-talkies yelling for them to be careful. It was way back through a dense cluster of trees that they found it: a pod much like Kara’s own, full of the crystals that Alex knew contained computers’ worth of information on them.

Alex pulled out her phone, groaning when she found that they were in a dead zone. Then again, she figured, she probably could have guessed as much. Not wanting to waste another minute, she radioed over to Winn, calling out J’onn’s phone number and telling Winn exactly what to say when he answered.

“What are your coordinates?” Winn asked.

Alex rattled them off, but added, “I’ve got a subdermal tracker that he should be able to follow too. Just tell him to get here fast.”

While they waited, Alex and Maggie huddled close for warmth. Alex kicked at the partially frozen ground beneath her feet. “Thanks for your help. I don’t—I don’t know if this will fix anything, and maybe we’ll have to come back here again tomorrow and do it earlier in the day to give the DEO more time, but this is the closest I’ve come to getting out of here. And I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Yeah, well, I gotta say, I’m pretty sympathetic to the plight of someone stuck in Blue Springs. I couldn’t leave you here forever.”

“You know, no one would judge you for leaving either. You’ve come back and spent so long now standing at the bedside of someone who doesn’t deserve you. You’re allowed to put yourself first.”

“Maybe one day… It’s not like I’ve got a lot waiting for me out there.”

“That’s not true.”

“Alex,” Maggie sighed. “They don’t really take kindly to long, unexplained leaves of absence. That promotion is long gone. And I doubt another offer is going to come my way.”

“I was serious—or, never mind, you won’t remember that time—but there are detective jobs in National City. There’s a Science Division with NCPD—you know, investigating crimes related to alien life. Or there’s the DEO. You’re good at this. There have to be jobs for someone as good and smart and passionate as you.”

Maggie shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Maggie, you’re too good to let your talents go to waste. Why…why are you still here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Really? Because you told me before that you didn’t feel any better for having come to see your mother. You told me that you had been here too long. You clearly miss being out in the field and investigating. So why are you still waiting?”

“I fucked up.” Maggie’s voice was barely a whisper.

“What do you mean? We all make mistakes.”

“No, I—I had a life. A pretty good one. I had a girlfriend that probably could’ve become a wife. I had a steady job and a clear path toward a promotion. I had a decent apartment that wasn’t on the outskirts of a town where I’m hated. And I…I don’t even know what happened. I threw it all away.”

“Maggie, I’m sure you can get those things back again.”

“Alex, I cheated on her. The woman I dated for five full years. I cheated on her. I got the call about my mom, and I just…withdrew. And I wouldn’t tell Emily, wouldn’t even be honest with the woman I claimed to love. And we kept fighting until finally I stormed out and got so, so fucking drunk. And then I woke up with someone I’d never met before.” Maggie took a shuddering breath, sniffling and wiping at her cheeks with her gloved hands. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Maggie, it does matter. You matter. You made a mistake. If that meant you could never have a happy life…god, I should already be making my bed in hell.” She snorted softly. “Huh, maybe that’s why I ended up at Patty’s bed and breakfast.” Maggie managed a watery chuckle. “The point is, throwing away your shot at happiness isn’t atonement or whatever you think it might be.”

“How would you know?”

“Maggie, do you want to know how I ended up at the DEO?”

“Sure.”

“I was in grad school. Or, I was about to be kicked out of grad school, I should say. My dad had died several years earlier, and I think I was still carrying around a lot of guilt about that.”

“Why? It wasn’t like it was your fault, right? People die.”

Alex closed her eyes. “It’s different. It…I still feel like it was my fault. But that’s not the point. I was stressed out of my mind and still dealing with all that stuff that I’d shoved down over the years. I ended up at bars and clubs most nights. I stopped doing my labs, stopped showing any progress toward my degree.” She swallowed harshly. “It was the day I got the letter telling me I had to appear before the Council of Deans to defend my place in the program or risk being kicked out that I went out and got drunker than I had in a while. I…I left and had my keys in my hand.”

“Oh,” Maggie whispered.

“I still don’t know if I was actually planning to drive or if I wanted to sleep in the car or what. Some cops saw me and arrested me. While I was sobering up in the drunk tank, the head of the DEO came and found me, told me he had something that would give my life purpose again, told me I deserved better than the hell I was putting myself through.”

“That’s different.”

“It’s really not. You deserve someone to show up here and tell you that you deserve better. And, I, well, I’m no J’onn, but I’m second-in-command of the DEO, and I like to think I carry a little bit of authority. Maybe not enough to offer you a job outright, but I can offer you a glowing recommendation if you ever decide you want to come to National City.”

“Why would you do that for me?”

“You saved me here. Not just this—the alien spaceship-finding mission or whatever. But in Blue Springs. You gave me something that mattered, something that got me out of bed even when I knew I’d end up there again no matter what I did. And…if it’s not too cheesy to say, you make me ridiculously happy. I was being pretty honest about the whole falling for you thing.”

With a soft smile on her lips, Maggie raised herself up to her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Alex’s mouth. “How about this? If you manage to get out of here, I’ll get out of here too.”

“I think that sounds like a good deal, Maggie Sawyer.”

Soon enough, J’onn and a whole team of DEO agents descended on the area. Alex was sent back to the van to wait with Winn and Maggie while the agents in full protective biohazard suits went to work loading the pod into a safe container for transit, then scouring the surrounding area for anything that might have fallen from the pod.

“Agent Danvers,” J’onn called out to Alex as he strode out of the woods. “We’re ready to head back to National City.”

“Can you…can I meet you there tomorrow?” She didn’t add the, “if it comes,” that lingered on the tip of her tongue.

“Of course.” Alex couldn’t help but note the way his gaze flickered over to Maggie and his mouth curved up into a smile.

“But call me if you find anything?”

“You’ll be the first one I tell.” Before he left, he turned back to their group. “Mr. Schott?”

“Hmm?” Winn looked up at J’onn, his eyes wide.

“I was serious on the phone earlier. We could use someone with your skills on our team. You have my number.”

“Right, yes, Mr. Director, sir!” Winn nodded enthusiastically, brandishing the small business card he’d been handed.

Once the DEO team left, Alex drove Maggie and Winn back to their houses. “Would you…do you want to dinner?” Alex whispered, her fingers tentatively reaching out toward Maggie’s.

“Of course.”

It was during dinner that Alex got the call: there was nothing in the pod that should have had any effect on the progression of time. Alex let out a shaky breath and nodded, trying to stay strong. Maggie noticed. Of course Maggie noticed.

“What’s up?”

“There wasn’t anything—anything that should have done this. Apparently it was all very helpful for an ongoing case, though, so that’s a win.” The false cheerfulness didn’t persuade Maggie.

“We’ll keep doing this until we find what has you stuck here. I promise.”

“I don’t—Maggie, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

“I promise, I will be here with you. Every step of the way.”

“Why? You barely know me.”

Maggie shrugged. “Just because I haven’t spent however many days learning every little thing about you yet doesn’t mean I don’t know you at all. And…god, I never thought I’d be the kind of person to say it, but do you ever feel like sometimes…like sometimes someone comes into your life, and you already know that they’re meant to be there, that they just…fit?”

“Before I met you I would have said no. But now? I think I know what you mean.”

“You’re that, Alex. And yeah, maybe tomorrow I’ll have to learn it all over again. But I think—I think we made a pretty good team. And I have to believe that one day, we’re gonna get you out of here.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. And when you get out of here, I’m gonna take that advice of yours. I don’t—you’re right. Maybe things won’t be so easy as you think they will, but I have to believe that I deserve better than being stuck in Blue Springs for the rest of my life too.”

Alex blinked back tears she could feel stinging at her eyes. “Would you—do you think you could take me back to my room?”

“Of course.”

Maggie drove slowly on the slick roads, watching as the snowflakes fluttered down around them. When they got to the bed and breakfast, she slid into an open parking space. “I know I’ll see you again tomorrow, but I’m gonna miss you, Alex.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Alex whispered, but she couldn’t bring herself to get out of the car. “Do you think…would you want to come up with me? We don’t have to do anything, and I promise you’ll end up back in your own bed—safe and sound—tomorrow morning.”

“Of course.”

They tiptoed through the front door and up the stairs to Alex’s room, locking the door behind them and curling up on the lumpy old mattress, arms wrapped around each other, watching as the clock ticked nearer and nearer to midnight. Alex could feel the pull of sleep—she had to assume it was some sort of enchanted sleep to strike at just the right time every night—but before it took her, she carded her fingers through Maggie’s hair. “I love you.” And then it all faded to black.

The next morning, Cyndi Lauper’s voice crackled through the old radio. “No!” Alex groaned, biting back the urge to yell and cry and throw things. But then she listened closer, her senses slowly filtering back through as she fought her way to consciousness.

_“All through the night,_   
_I'll be awake, and I'll be with you,_   
_All through the night.”_

Alex bolted upright, jostling the warm body she only then realized was still curled up next to her. “Maggie?”

Maggie blinked slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Alex?”

“You remember?” Alex didn’t even care that her voice cracked with the hope she couldn’t quite control even though she knew it would devastate her if it proved false.

Maggie could only smile and nod, blinking through the tears that had gathered in her eyes. And then Maggie’s mouth was on Alex’s, and suddenly the little lumpy bed didn’t feel so awful, and Cyndi Lauper’s voice was welcome to serenade them as long as it wanted, just so long as she had Maggie in her arms.

A few minutes of increasingly feverish making out later, a knock pulled them apart. “Alexandra?”

“Yes, Patty?” Alex almost felt guilty for the sharp edge to her tone.

“Breakfast will be ready soon, dear.”

Alex forced herself out of bed, running her fingers through her hair and trying to smooth it into some semblance of order before she pulled open the door.

“Oh. You have company.”

“I do,” Alex answered, even though Patty’s words were clearly not a question. “And I’ll actually be leaving before breakfast. Work calls me back to National City.”

“Are you sure you don’t need breakfast for the road?”

“I think we really need to leave as early as possible, but thank you.” Alex eventually managed to get the door closed. As she pulled her suitcase from the closet, stuffing the one or two things she’d unpacked back into it, she looked over at Maggie. “So…still up for that road trip to California?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr @sapphicscholarwrites and Twitter @sapphicscholar and I always love hearing your thoughts!
> 
> Also, couldn't post about it earlier bc it wouldn't make sense until people had read this, but while desperately trying to leave a city in a snowstorm a few days back, my flight kept getting delayed (first for the snow, then for other flights leaving first, then because we needed a new plane, then because our new plane couldn't land, etc.). And while I'm waiting in this wretched terminal, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" comes blasting over the speakers, and I patted myself on the back because the song really did have precisely the effect of making me want to throw and break things


End file.
